mindfulness – nataliekimNYC

How to Get Back to Drawing When You’ve Fallen Off the Boat For a While.

Why do we sometimes avoid the very thing that feeds our soul?

Whenever I draw and share a cartoon I feel great. My anxiety goes away and if it brightens someone’s day, that makes me even happier.

I know that drawing is an act that makes me spiritually, physically and mentally happier so what is the thing that holds me back?

I do have responsibilities: kids, work. Sometimes those responsibilities make their positions know as soon I open my eyes up until my head hits the pillow.

However, I also know that the mind can play tricks on me when I’m interested in pursuing something that means a lot to me. Suddenly time shrinks and I CANNOT make space to create cartoons.

I recently heard a podcast called The Eventual Millionaire by Jamie Masters. She interviews many entrepreneurs who are successful in varying degrees. One interview really stuck out for me and I felt it would be valuable to share with you here.

Robin Sharma found that the people who got the best results in their life did the following:

They were in the 5AM Club. While the rest of the world was sleeping and hitting snooze, 5AM Clubbers did the following:

1. Woke up at 5:00a
2. Did 20 minutes of exercise that made them sweat. This changes one’s psychological state as well as their actual brain health.
3. Did 20 minutes of journaling and meditation.
4. Did 20 minutes of writing and reading.

I tried it out this week and I found out that it was really helpful.

I could easily draw a quick sketch with a pen in the morning without too much fuss. Instead of letting my day overwhelm me, I was able to easily capture a few extra pockets of time where some very good creative thinking would happen.

If you’re not scared off by the prospect of waking up at 5:00am, check out Robin’s 66 Day Challenge here!

Be the Same in Private as You Are in Public

Today my girl has a playdate at our apartment and we went to pick up some snacks:

Ice pops (yes, in the winter)
Tings (2 bags)
2 Organic Apples
Popcorn with a touch of butter. (Paul Newman)

As I went to the register, I spotted the usual clerk, a young woman wearing a navy blue hijab.

An older, white gentleman cuts in front of me and normally I’d speak up—but I let it go because he’s older and has just two items to buy.

With an accent, the clerk tells him says: “$11.58”.

“What did you say?” the gentleman asks imperiously. The young clerk remains silent. He turns to a young black woman with wavy long hair who is working at another counter: “What did she say? I can’t understand her!” He seems to enjoy the spectacle he’s creating.

I said: “She said ‘$11.58’ (line cutter!) Just ask her what she said.”

He ignored me and continued to speak loudly to the other cashier: “I can’t understand her! Do you work here?”

I looked at his face and suddenly a memory sprouted up. I thought to myself: “That face, that name, I know who that is…”

I asked him, “Wait are you on TV?”

He stopped and gave me a strange look, almost a smirk. Half happy to be recognized and half in terror for being caught for behaving like a bully.

He asked: “Why are you? Are you?”

I said: “Nope.”

I knew exactly who he was. I remembered seeing him on TV reviewing Charlyne Yi’s gorgeous movie, Paper Hearts. He was a critic and the way he panned the movie made me think he was a bitter, old dude who didn’t understand the movie, nor tried to understand it and therefore he dismissed it.

Of course, he is a critic.

Back to present time in the grocery store.

This turned to the young woman wearing a hijab.

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t understand you.” He weakly apologized, took his bag and left.

I felt a little bad for calling him out and wondered if he was just having a bad day.

The young woman began ringing my snacks up and looked wearily in his direction:

“He does this all the time.”

Let’s Fight and Let’s Be Happy.

IMG_9898-ANIMATION

I am sitting in my bed which is about to break. The bed frame is buckling and I need to adult hard and buy a new one. As I rolled around my bed last night, I worried the whole thing would come crashing down.

I was too tired to get up and take action, but I did crack a joke with my husband that we will wake up V shaped.

Right now the reality is what you make of it. Right here right now. Not they way you WANT it to be, but what it is now.

Me, sitting in my pajamas, sitting on top of my broken bed and …I am thankful for the broken bed. I’m thankful for it’s service and it’s pretty clear we need to move on. It’s not a pain in the ass, it’s a privilege to 1. have a bed, 2. have the resources to buy a new bed frame.

I’m not writing this to sound like a know it all. I’m writing this to myself so when the world seems shite, I can read this and remind myself that we are responsible for our reality.